Messi is Your New All-Time La Liga Goalscorer

Lionel Messi might have come up just short in getting his Argentinian squad a World Cup star this summer. But he picked up a nice consolation prize over the weekend.

After putting up a hat trick against Sevilla on Saturday, Messi is now the leading scorer in La Liga history with 253 goals. (La Liga is the top pro division in Spanish football.) And considering he’s only 27, the Barcelona forward should add quite a bit of padding to that record.

Here’s Messi’s record-breaker:

The previous record holder was the legendary Ronaldinho. He was also Messi’s teammate in Barcelona at the start of the Argentinian’s La Liga career. He even set up Messi’s first goal.

After Saturday’s game, Ronaldinho posted a congratulatory message for Messi on Instagram.

“Congratulations my friend, you deserve it,” he wrote. “Being part of this story is very rewarding and seeing you today is a great pride, you conquered us all with your humility and talent!!! Congratulations Leo, family and Barcelona, you’re awesome!!!” (Translation via Bleacher Report.)

Here’s that first goal of Messi’s La Liga career, which he scored on May 1, 2005, against Albacete: